“The Lenten season begins. It is a time to be with you, Lord, in a special way, a time to pray, to fast, and thus to follow you on your way to Jerusalem, to Golgotha, and to the final victory over death.

I am still so divided. I truly want to follow you, but I also want to follow my own desires and lend an ear to the voices that speak about prestige, success, pleasure, power, and influence. Help me to become deaf to these voices and more attentive to your voice, which calls me to choose the narrow road to life.

I know that Lent is going to be a very hard time for me. The choice for your way has to be made every moment of my life. I have to choose thoughts that are your thoughts, words that are your words, and actions that are your actions. There are not times or places without choices. And I know how deeply I resist choosing you.

Please, Lord, be with me at every moment and in every place. Give me the strength and the courage to live this season faithfully, so that, when Easter comes, I will be able to taste with joy the new life that you have prepared for me. Amen” (Henri Nouwen).

Lent is about self-denial, something that is about as antithetical to today’s culture of self-indulgence and self-fulfillment as you can get. The ultimate example is that of Jesus, who though existing in the very form of God, made Himself nothing and took on the form of a slave, becoming obedient to the point of the worst kind of death imaginable on a cross (see Philippians 2).

My flesh wants what it wants. I know most of the time I have my own desires and wants and dreams, but at the end of the day, nothing I could ever wish for or long for could compare with what God has in store for those He loves. My imagination, my brain, isn’t big enough to dream God-sized dreams.

But Easter is about the journey from equality with God to nothing to death to exaltation above all. The journey to joy often goes through the valley of the shadow of death, but does not stop there. As the song says, Jesus only borrowed the tomb because He never intended to stay there.

May we remember this Easter that while sorrow may last for a night, joy always comes in the morning. Especially on the morning of Easter Sunday.